Caps for Sale-Esphyr Slobodkina

Esphyr Slobodkina, Caps for Sale, U.S.A: Scholastic 1999, 40pp,ISBN 0-439-12061-6

Ages: 3-8
Rating: 4/5

Caps for sale is a classic book. It's a story without a place and time, which is what, makes him to be entertaining even after more than sixty years. It’s simple story with a simple plot about a peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business… It tells the story of a peddler who sells colorful caps by carrying them on top of his head, and calls - "Caps! Caps for Sale! “Fifty cents a cap!” One day, the peddler couldn’t sell any caps, so he decides to rest.

While he takes his nap, a group of monkeys snatch the caps from his head. When the peddler awakes, he shaking a finger at them and ask the monkeys to give him back his caps. The monkeys shook their fingers and refuse with a simple "tsz, tsz, tsz." After a few unsuccessful attempts to return the caps, the peddler was so angry that he threw his own cap to the ground, and what a surprise he suddenly found out that what monkey sees, monkey does!

I love this story! He is having everything inside: lots of fun and humour, imagination (let they children decide what they monkey said when they said "tsz, tsz, tsz."), learning (colours, directions, numbers), for us as adults, there is also an important amoral If we want to learn our children the correct behavior is not right just yelled at them if they do not behave as we expected our job as a parent is to show them how they should behave, and then they will copy us!
This tale is universally and can cross lots of different cultures. The colours of the pictures could use some updating/brightening, but I must admit that I like them as they look for me like vintage pictures, and they remained me my childhood books.

In this era that everyone looks for interactive electronics material, it’s amazing to find a hard copy interactive book!